MOST performances of Beet-hoven's Ninth Symphony are a mixed bag. You get the routine ones that are uplifted by a spirited choral finale, good tight ones that are let down in that finale by the chorus or soloists (or both), and the soggy ones where the long, slow movement meanders and the symphony runs aground.
The one given last night by Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Phil was no different. The first two movements were steamingly dramatic, with fabulous playing from the fat, double-sized wind band, vivid drive (with powerhouse, hard-stick timpani playing) and the alert, seething textures that characterised
their Brahms playing the previous night.
The second movement Scherzo was, in itself, a great performance, with every facet of the lean-sounding machine that is today's Berlin Phil on display:
an incredibly articulate light touch and thunderous, unstoppable momentum.
In the slow movement, Abbado almost took the symphonic pressure off the music as he coaxed instrumental lines as though they were vocal melodies. The playing was
lovely but the momentum was lost. And it pretty well stayed that way for me in a finale that, at too many critical points (especially the cripplingly slow-paced choral fugue) felt as though it had shot its bolt.
The Edinburgh Festival Chorus was better than the other night, though where is their rock-solid bottomless depth of sound? The soloists were a ragbag: soprano Soile Isokoski was a star, mezzo Birgit Remmert was anonymous, tenor Reiner Goldberg was all ov er the shop, and bass-baritone Eike Wilm Schulte was a bit featureless; though, in their defence, Beethoven saved his most rotten vocal writing for this movement. Great to hear the Berlin Phil at the Festival again, though. I hope we don't have to wait a nother 26 years.
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